Greenpeace to tech industry: Be more like Apple

Greenpeace has criticised Samsung, Microsoft, Amazon and others for not doing enough to create green gadgets saying they should act more like Apple.

In a new report out ahead of the IFA trade show in Berlin, the environmental organisation says Samsung and others could do lots more and slams Amazon for not even providing any environmental information at all.

But it's not all strong words, Greenpeace it seems, has plenty of time for Apple, praising the company for leading the charge when it comes to creating gadgets that are environmentally friendly, and suggesting that more companies should be like Apple.

"Apple has shown us a glimpse of a greener future, leading the sector on toxic-free products and starting to address the huge environmental footprint of electronics manufacturing. But the industry still has a long road ahead of it before they’re giving customers the level of efficiency and sustainability they are asking for," says Greenpeace UK’s head of IT, Andrew Hatton.

According to Greenpeace more than 50 per cent of the mobile phone market, represented by Samsung, Apple and Nokia, is now free from the worst hazardous substances: Polyvinylchloride (PVC) and Brominated flame retardants (BFRs), however, Apple remains the only company to have eliminated the use of these substances in all its products and recently announced promising further steps on chemical elimination in production.

In the Greenpeace International report, Green Gadgets: Designing the future, the organisation throws plenty of praise on Apple, but doesn't carry the same favour with companies like Samsung:

"Unfortunately, the report reveals that Samsung, the world’s biggest electronics company, has failed to meet its elimination goals for products beyond mobiles, joining Dell in backtracking on previous public phase out commitments."

Meanwhile, new players in the tablet and mobile markets continue to lag behind says Greenpeace:

"Microsoft have dropped their previous phase-out commitment, and rival Amazon is failing to provide any information to the public."

"The innovative electronics industry is perfectly placed to reimagine their manufacturing and marketing processes. They're designing our future, and we need that future to be a lot cleaner and greener than where we are now," added Hatton.